LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Cliff Hayden is waiting.
He waits for construction to begin on the site of the city government center next door, which remains vacant. The abandoned building is fenced off and overgrown in places. Some of the windows are boarded up or blocked off. Some are open.
For Hayden, manager of the Louisville Experience Boutique Hotel, the slow progress of renovations at nearby properties is directly impacting his new business, which is set to officially open this month.
“We've already had thefts. We've had air conditioners stolen,” he said, adding that people regularly camp out behind his building. “We have to move people out all the time.”
Cliff Hayden, manager of the Louisville Experience Boutique Hotel, stands near his building on Paristown Point with the abandoned Urban Government Center in the background.WDRB Photo).
Metro government plans for more than 10 acres in the Paristown Point area, proposed seven years ago as a city-led, privately operated project, have yet to come to fruition, and as a result, a steady disbursement of public funds continues to help sustain the area while a $249 million redevelopment deal awaits its next steps.
Data obtained by WDRB News through an open records request shows that over the two-year period from January 2022 to January of this year, $231,869 was spent on services ranging from security to fence repairs, which brings the total to more than $588,000 in costs to taxpayers since 2017.
But the figure is surely high because the metro government has not been able to provide data since January. It also doesn't include expenses for the Louisville Metro Housing Authority, which is primarily funded by the federal government, as requested by WDRB.
The bulk of Metro's budget for 2022-2024 is dedicated to security at the site — about $200,000, or about 86% of the total spending over the past two years. Still, some nearby residents question the effectiveness of security patrols and other measures.
Cindy Pablo, who has lived in the area for about 30 years, said she often sees looters breaking into buildings and stealing metal items.
She said she recently saw a man walk into a Louisville Housing Authority building with five pizzas and a bottle of soft drink. “They're not afraid of anybody,” she said.
“They're stealing money from all the taxpayers,” Pablo said. “What pisses me off is all of the money they're taking from these buildings and selling them, money that could have been put back into our community and other places.”
Police have made 13 arrests at the location since 2022 for theft, trespassing and other crimes, records show.
Former Louisville Public Housing Authority Building (on the former Urban Government Center site)WDRB Photo).
In one April 2023 instance, officers arrived at the Urban Government Center site after a private security guard witnessed two men breaking through a city-installed fence and entering the building at 810 Barrett Ave. Photos showed the men “walking around carrying what appeared to be copper pipes,” according to an arrest warrant.
After one man was arrested, officers found a “green backpack filled with saws, screwdrivers and other burglary tools.”
The arrest came just hours after police were dispatched to a neighboring Housing Authority building at 768 Barrett St. for a break-in, where a man had entered through a window and was planning to “cut copper out of the wall,” according to an arrest report.
While the Metro government remains in charge of security and oversees much of the site, the city's chosen developer, the Paristown Preservation Trust, took responsibility for the Housing Authority's assets as part of a purchase and sale agreement that went into effect in February. The sale must be completed by October.
The agreement allows the housing authority to sell the building for $1.7 million. The former Jefferson County Housing Authority originally purchased the property from the Jefferson County Fiscal Court in 1992 for $1.2 million.
Brian Forrest, with the Paristown Preservation Trust, said in a statement that his organization is mowing sidewalks and other parts of the site. “Unfortunately, countless delays have raised many questions about who will care for the site until ownership changes,” he said. “We hope these questions will be resolved when Metro Council votes in June to move forward with this important redevelopment. We look forward to taking ownership and then assuming full responsibility for the Urban Government Center site.”
The Paristown Preservation Foundation wants to build apartments, condominiums, a hotel, office space, retail and parking on the site.
According to details released at the April meeting, the developer's current plans include 450 apartments, 165,000 square feet of office and commercial space, a 100-room hotel with five condominiums, a 150-car parking garage, plus unspecified green space.
The city's website now states that plans are in place to build a conference center as well.
The Paristown Preservation Trust is seeking city approval for a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, an estimated $20 million in public subsidies that would fund a portion of the new property tax revenue generated in the district over 20 years.
Unlike the Housing Authority's buildings and land, the rest of the site will be sold to a developer for $1, but that will require a community benefits agreement to be signed between the neighbors and the city.
Years of negotiations have yet to produce an agreement, and the developers did not respond to WDRB's questions seeking comment on the current status of the agreement.
But Caitlin Bowling, a spokeswoman for Metro's Economic Development Agency, said the neighborhood group has submitted a new proposal to development group Steve Smith, but that Smith “does not want to make any adjustments to the Community Benefits Agreement.”
She said Smith's development team has agreed to add a playground and build five additional affordable housing units.
Bowling said he has no plans to reconvene the committee.
She said a new proposal pushed by developer Thomas Woodcock and supported by the German-Paristown Neighborhood Association was not on the table, which would reuse the main building at 810 Barrett into senior apartments and add an “Olmsted-like” park, grocery store and farmer's market.
“Through a combination of housing, amenities and environmental initiatives, the new plan aims to improve the quality of life for all residents of the area,” Woodcock wrote in a description of the plan, arguing that no TIF subsidy is needed.
Louisville Experience Hotel, next to the Urban Government Center at Paristown PointWDRB Photo).
Meanwhile, those who live and work nearby continue to wait.
John Mahoney, who lives on Vine Street across from the abandoned building, said he has heard about the new proposals but would like to see the current proposal by the third development group since 2017 go ahead.
“We've made some progress already with this alternative plan,” he said. “It's not perfect by any means, to be honest, but once we get going I think we can keep Steve Smith in check a little bit more.”
Hayden, the boutique hotel's manager, said the grand opening is planned for June, after quieter openings for events such as the Kentucky Derby and the PGA Championship.
“We're hopeful that they'll take some steps and make some progress in cleaning up over there.”
Since 2017, the city has spent about $600,000 on land slated for redevelopment in the Paristown Point area.
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